Posted on: Friday, July 26, 2002
State's pet plan studied
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Hawai'i's pet quarantine laws frequently generate emotional and complicated debate and it was no different yesterday, when a community group and the state veterinarian wrangled over how best to keep rabies out of the Islands.
The Board of Agriculture, meeting in the State Capitol, listened to opposing plans that would alter or completely eliminate quarantine. The board unanimously rejected a proposal by the Community Quarantine Reform Coalition of Hawai'i to abolish quarantine, but deferred decision-making on a plan by Dr. Jim Foppoli that would add a five-day quarantine option to existing laws.
Coalition spokesperson Chris Quackenbush said the group will take the issue to court. "We'll go for a class-action lawsuit next," she said after the hearing.
Said Ted Ketcham, president of Citizens for a Safer Quarantine: "I thought we got completely railroaded."
The existing rules, adopted in 1997, call for a 90-day waiting period before arrival in Hawai'i and 30 days of confinement once the animal is here. In addition, the animal must undergo two tests for rabies, at least two rabies vaccinations, with the second one given no sooner than three months after the first, and a microchip inserted for identification.
Dogs and cats that do not meet these requirements must stay in quarantine for 120 days.
Any changes would have to survive a lengthy public hearing and approval process that could last nine months.
Foppoli's proposal would not replace existing rules but would instead offer an option for people who know in advance they are moving to Hawai'i. To qualify for the five-day program, a pet must undergo a series of vaccinations and vet-supervised monitoring 180 days before arrival.
That option comes in the wake of a favorable risk assessment of the affect of the five-day program.
The community coalition's proposal would eliminate the 90-day waiting period and 30-day quarantine, but retain the use of a microchip to track the animal. Pets would need a rabies shot and a booster no less than three months apart and not more than one year apart. A blood test would be taken after the last rabies shot.
Hawai'i officials would receive a health certificate from the pet's veterinarian at least 14 days before arrival, with all test results and health certificates sent by e-mail to prevent fraud.
Before arrival, animals would have to pass a blood test, with results e-mailed to Hawai'i officials by the testing lab.
At the airport, animal quarantine officials would inspect every incoming pet, check its chip to confirm its identity and release the animal to its owner if everything is in order.
"The safety of our proposal is equal to or better than anything in the world, including Dr. Foppoli's," Ketcham said. "Our plan requires two vaccinations and that's where the safety comes from."
He said there have only been 400 cases of rabies out of 120 million pets on the Mainland. He also said that vaccinations have a failure rate of only 4 out of 33 million.
Board Chairman James Nakatani was concerned that the community group had not given him a scientific review of its proposal.
"The proposal has many problems," he said. "No. 1, it doesn't have a risk assessment."
Quackenbush insisted after the meeting that the board has been given a risk assessment that was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization "no less than five times."
Foppoli was critical of the coalition plan, saying it was 2.9 times riskier than the state's existing 30-day option.
"This is a classic example of a house built on cards," he said. "The premise that this is better is totally false."
Foppoli said the board will probably re-examine his plan at its next meeting.
Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8012.
